The sun was shining brightly and the temperature was in the low fifties. A gorgeous day! We had breakfast and then went back to our cabin to pack because tomorrow we disembark in Reykjavik.

Packing our suitcases was very easy, because when we travel, we sort our clothing into mesh zippered travel cubes that we just plop into the dresser drawers. When we need to take anything out, we just unzip and remove the item. So all we did to repack was to plop the cubes back in the suitcases. Done!!!! If you don’t have these travel cubes, I highly recommend them.

Heimaey is the largest island of the Westman Islands and the only one that is inhabited. The huge rock formations are beautiful, and we were able to sit at the window and watch the arctic terns and the puffins fly to and fro. More puffins apparently nest here than anywhere else in the world.

The mother puffins have apparently left the nests and some of the babies were left behind. They now must learn to survive on their own. Unfortunately, the lights from the island confuse the puffins and they think it’s water, and so hundreds of them wind up on the streets in town. It has become tradition that the residents who live on the island, scoop them up and place them carefully back into the water, in the hopes that they will survive. Sadly, most do not.

We were all set to go on our walking tour, but the tenders were backed up so we left about 40 minutes late. And of course, since Iceland weather can change on a dime, the heavens opened up and it started to pour. Since we had been waiting in the theater to board the tender, we didn’t realize it was raining until we got outside. We were totally unprepared being sans umbrella, rain pants, and waterproof shoes. Once we got on the island, we just turned around and went back on the tender and back to the ship. Oh well, we’ve enjoyed all the ports so far, so not seeing this one wasn’t that disappointing.

We went to high tea and enjoyed some scones, sandwiches, and of course tea and then we went to see the ventriloquist show in the theater.

We had a quick bite to eat and bid goodbye and safe travels to the friends we’ve met, and of course to Lisa and John. We had a wonderful time sailing with them and hope to do it again someday. The cruise was stellar, the crew wonderful, the food excellent, and the shows very entertaining.

We have to get up at 5 am to get on the bus that will take us to the airport so we can pick up our car rental. We have a very busy day planned for tomorrow.

Afternoon tea